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Selasa, 08 Juli 2014

Interesting Facts About Epilepsy

The average person may view epilepsy as a mysterious and scary condition when, in fact, it's simply a brain disorder that causes seizures of various types. A look at epilepsy reveals some fascinating facts, as well as a colorful history.

Blink and You Miss It

Some types of epileptic seizures are so brief, they go unnoticed. Absence ("petit mal") seizures can last only two to 15 seconds, during which time a person might stare blankly, blink or pick at his clothes. Then he'll resume his business, having no recollection of the seizure.

Hippocrates Sheds Some Light

Before 400 B.C., people believed epilepsy was a curse that afflicted people with the gift of prophecy. Then Hippocrates wrote the first book about epilepsy called "On the Sacred Disease," in which he classified it as a brain disorder.

Epilepsy & Eugenics

By 1914, 12 states had enacted Harry Laughlin's Model Eugenical Sterilization Law. It forbade people with seizure disorders, along with those who were "feeble-minded, insane, criminalistic, inebriate, diseased, blind, deaf, deformed and dependent," to marry or have children. The law also allowed people with epilepsy to be sterilized.

Treating by Eating

The ketogenic diet, created in the 1920s and still used today, is one of the oldest treatments for epilepsy. This diet simulates the effects of fasting, which decreases the frequency of some types of seizures.